


Hidden Strategies

by rae_marie



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors
Genre: Dr Nyarlathotep, Gen, Psychological Horror, be forewarned, character exploration, contains mild spoilers for the renegade, contains psychological horror, this was written because i wanted to get a handle on how to write this character, which i will hopefully post soon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 11:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16722126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: A mysterious person asks the Master for help, and the Master isn't entirely sure she's being completely truthful about herself.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Just going to repeat the warnings for psychological horror and mild spoilers for 'The Renegade'.

' _Ouch!_ '

The Master stumbled backwards into the TARDIS when the voice cried out. She stared at the woman in front of her.

'What're you _doing?_ I could've knocked you over!' she exclaimed.

'Please - you don't understand - ' The woman stepped forward, and the Master dodged to the side and yanked the TARDIS door shut.

' _Please_ \- you have to let me in whatever that thing is....I'm in _danger!_ '

'Well that's a new one;' the Master said, 'typically I'm the one _causing_ the danger people run from.'

' _Please!_ They'll find me!'

'Who?' The Master frowned. She couldn't be sure this wasn't a ruse; something felt a little odd; something about the stranger's mind.

'The Kaled Mutants - you _have_ to hide me - they'll _kill_ me!'

Well _that_ wasn't good.

'Kaled Mutants,' she asked; her voice urgent. She took the woman by the shoulders. 'Do you mean _Daleks._ Tall, armour-encased monstrosities with a superiority complex?'

'I don't know _what_ you call them here but that sounds accurate; I - '

She stopped when the sound of Daleks started up in the distance. The Master tightened her grip on her left shoulder, and she gasped.

'Very well; I will let you into my TARDIS, but you won't be able to move until I want you to. Very interesting. Same pressure points as a Time Lord.'

The woman gasped again and made no move to struggle as the Master hauled her into the TARDIS and, after shutting the door, proceeded to bind her hands securely behind her. She let her go and stood back.

'Wh - what did you do to me....'

'Temporarily paralysed you. I can't have you, a complete stranger, roaming around my TARDIS unsupervised, and I can't have you struggling while I tie you, so there we are.'

The Master turned and walked quickly down the corridor towards the lab. After rummaging for a while, she found the disintegrator she'd recently developed, and dashed back out to the Console Room, past the protesting stranger, and outside again.

*****

They were unlike any Daleks she'd ever seen before. Shorter than usual, and with sparkling, crystalline casings; they were rather beautiful, but they _were_ Daleks, after all. She aimed the disintegrator at the closest one and fired. The other Daleks started screaming in their metallic voices.

'SEEK THE ADVERSARY! EXTERMINATE THE ADVERSARY! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!'

The Master frowned. She couldn't have _that_. She fired at another one, and it flew apart into atoms within seconds.

Before long she had dispatched the entire squadron, and she switched off the device and went back into her TARDIS. She stopped in front of the woman, who was struggling to free herself.

'You won't get out of _those_ knots, I can assure you,' the Master said. 'I'm an _expert_ at this sort of thing. Now. You will tell me who you are, and where you are from, and perhaps I won't kill you if you don't lie.'

'Are you from Wales?' the woman asked. 'You sound Welsh.'

The Master frowned. 'Don't play ignorant with _me_. You really won't fool me; you know what Daleks are, you get dragged into a dimensionally transcendent ship and aren't even surprised.... I know you aren't from this planet, and you know _I_ am not either. Now.' The Master put down the disintegrator and drew the Tissue Compression Eliminator. 'In case you don't know, this device can manipulate your atoms to reduce you to a thirty-secondth of your size - possibly more - killing you in the process, and I can _assure_ you that it is not pleasant.'

The stranger stared at the TCE.

'I will give you _one_ more chance to tell me who you are, and what you're doing here.'

There was a pause.

'I....I'm from Gallifrey,' the stranger said. 'I....my name is Averite, and I was in a Time War, and the Kaled mutants chased me all the way here, to London. They wanted revenge for what I did to their home world. Please....if you kill me, you'll just be giving them what they want....'

'No; I won't be,' the Master said. 'Nice try, but I'm not going to work by that logic. How many years into my future are you?'

'I....I don't know,' Averite said. 'I....I've been injured, and my time senses haven't been working properly....I didn't even want to land here.'

The Master narrowed her eyes and studied her. Something was definitely not right. She wondered if it _would_ in fact, be safer to just kill the intruder quickly, right there and then, but there was something nagging at her mind, and she didn't want to leave it unsolved. She put the TCE back in her inner pocket.

'Very well. I will accept your story. For now. Turn around and I'll untie you.'

'Are you going to shoot me in the back....'

'No. I'm going to untie you. I'm not going to kill you. Not yet, that is.' Averite tentatively turned, and the Master started unknotting the ropes.

'Thank you....that wasn't very comfortable.' The last loop fell away, and she turned again. 'See? I'm not attacking you or flying off your ship or anything....do you trust me now?'

The Master simply stepped over to the controls and flipped a few switches.

'My TARDIS is now biolocked to only be piloted by me. Does that answer any lingering questions?'


	2. Two

The Master had left Averite alone in the Console Room - with several security traps in place, of course - and headed to the library. She scanned the shelves for anything relating to time wars, and after finding nothing, tried the infoportal for the Databanks. She had a little more success there, but couldn't get past security protocalls for a few references, and when she tried to hack into them, felt a frantic tugging in her mind.

'All right, old friend; I trust you. I won't look,' she murmured. The TARDIS hummed a little slower in relief.

The Master sighed and turned off the infoportal, then left for the Console Room. She had almost made it there when a sharp jabbing in her mind made her cry out and stagger off to the side. She gasped and steadied herself against the wall as Averite came running up to her.

'Are you all right?!' she exclaimed.

'Yes....just....' The Master gingerly pushed herself back up and straightened. 'A sort of psychic jolt; that's all.'

She carried on into the room, Averite trailing behind her, and went to the scanner.

'What are we going to be doing?' Averite asked. 'And did you ever tell me your name....'

The Master smirked a little. 'The _Master_.'

'Oh.'

'Exactly.' She could sense the stranger's unease, and it satisfied her. Perhaps it would keep her from doing anything foolish.

'As to what we are going to be doing, I think it's about time to see if any other civilisations need.... _rescuing_.'

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Averite fidget and look away.

The Master turned her attention to the scanner, and soon found a planet with all the conditions she was looking for. She smiled and input the coordinates, and pulled the demat lever.

*****

As soon as they stepped out of the TARDIS, the Master could practically _smell_ chronon energy in the air. She locked the door, and looked around. There was a small unit of soldiers walking their way and looking rather annoyed.

' _Greetings, Amdrasians!_ ' the Master called. ' _I am a Time Lord, and I'm not a threat; I'm here to help you!_ '

'Perhaps you could be a little less dramatic?' Averite hissed. The Master glared at the view in front of them.

'Shut up,' she whispered back.

The soldiers seemed to relax a bit; their tentacles weren't curled as tightly as before, and they slowed their pace a little. Averite started to step forward, but the Master put a hand out and she stopped.

'Let them approach _us_ ; they'll feel less threatened.' She straightened her tie and jumper, and folded her arms.

The soldiers stopped, cautiously, in front of them. 'What are you doing here, strangers?' they asked; their warbled voices sounding rich and gentle. The Master smiled.

'I heard your planet was having trouble with invaders, and I decided to stop by and see if I couldn't keep your civilisation from spiralling into destruction. I _even_ heard you have an art gallery that is much sought after by the invaders; which of course we can't let fall into their hands; they'd only destroy it!'

One of the soldiers shifted uncomfortably and looked at Averite. 'And who is she?' it asked. The Master frowned.

'She is a stranger who came into my ship seeking shelter from enemies of her own.' 

The soldier tapped a tentacle on the ground. 'Very well. Come with us to the planning tower.'

***** 

The Master studied the notes the Amdrasians' General had taken. As she had suspected, the invaders were using temporal technology to hop back in time and retry their attacks. It was all the soldiers could do to keep multiple versions of the same alien from slaughtering their entire army on its own, let alone multiple aliens doing it at once. The Master looked up at the General.

'So are you the leader of Amdras?' she asked. It tapped a tentacle.

'I try my best, but I confess I do not know how to stop the _civil_ wars here, let alone the _invasions_. If you can do _anything_ to stop the invaders - even temporarily - we will reward you however you wish.' The Master smiled.

'Well. I will see what I can do for you.'

She studied the notes for a while longer, running her hand along the various symbols that sparked meanings in her mind. She couldn't help but smile at their cleverness; making up for their sightless eyes by inventing electroneural writing and art. Then she paused as several ideas struck her, and looked up at the General.

'I think I have an idea, but I want to monitor the time jumps first.' She looked at Averite. 'I'm going to give you an earpiece, and I want you to tell me if anything seems odd on your end.'

Averite squinted, but nodded, and the Master fished out the device.

*****

The Master walked into the TARDIS and was immediately met with a psychic wave of terror, quickly followed by one of extreme relief. She looked up at the time rotors.

'I know. That's why we're doing this,' she said. 'I need to test my theory.'

She programmed the coordinates, switched on the earpiece monitor, and pulled the demat lever.

As soon as she did so, she heard Averite whimper a little. The TARDIS landed, and she turned on the scanner.

Where she was remained silent for a span, and then out of thin air, warship pods appeared and started dropping bombs. She heard Averite gasp and cry out, then distinctly heard her fall over; followed by the clatter of Amdrasians helping her up.

She had witnessed all she needed to. She flipped the fast-return switch.

*****

The Master stepped out of the TARDIS and was greeted by a nervous Amdrasian who waved its tentacles around wildly.

'Your fellow traveller is ill!' it warbled. 'She made a pained sound and then fell over!'

The Master nodded and walked over to the unconscious Averite. She wondered if she should act on her hunch now, while she had the opportunity....but no. She needed to know for certain.

She lifted Averite and carried her back to her TARDIS, laying her down on a couch in the Alcove. After a moment, the woman stirred, and looked up at the Master.

'I....I don't know what....'

'Don't try to speak. Apparently you fainted during the siege on the planet. Stay in here and you'll get better soon enough. As you know; we're closed off from the Universe in here.'

Her eyes widened. 'Why....why should that affect my condition....'

The Master only smiled quietly and left.

*****

After discussing her plan with the General, the Master went back to her TARDIS to gather the necessary tools. Once again, as soon as she stepped foot in the Console Room, she felt a painful jabbing in her mind; not quite as painful as the first time, but unpleasant nonetheless. She shook her head, and then looked over to see Averite standing at the Console, her hand on the demat lever.

The look frozen on Averite's face said it all.

The Master strode over and took her by the shoulders, shoving her up against the console.

'And _what_ , exactly, do you think you are _doing?_ ' she said, not raising her voice at in the slightest. Averite paled.

'I...I wasn't going to fly her away....honestly - it was the farthest thing from my mind actually....I - '

'It's a good thing I put extra security measures in place, isn't it?' the Master said. 'For example, if you had tried to _pull_ that lever, you would have received an electric shock that has enough power to force a Time Lord into regenerating. I wonder what it would have done to _you?_ '

Averite gasped and started to sink down. The Master caught her. 'And you still haven't told me why you are so weakened, either,' she said. She put an arm around her and helped her limp over to the couch. Then she simply looked at her. She held Averite's gaze, but could feel no effect on the woman's mind. She almost seemed immune to hypnosis; Averite merely paled more.

'I am giving you this final warning, Averite,' the Master said. 'Do anything like this again, and I might get very, _very_ angry. And believe me, right now I am only angry a little; you don't want to see me _fully_ angry.'

'Warning noted, _Master_ ,' Averite said, her voice catching.


	3. Three

_Now that I've confirmed it, more or less, I shall have to sort out this mess with the Amdrasians_ first, _and_ then _deal with my other problem._ The Master turned over a strategy in her head as she assembled the devices, and soon she clicked the final piece of both her plans and the device's mechanics into place and stood up, satisfied. She turned to the General.

'Shall I activate it now?' she asked. The General tapped its tentacle on the table.

'I shall start monitoring the activity of the enemy.' It left, and the Master reached down and flipped on the device.

*****

She joined the General and put her hand on the monitor. In her mind's eye, she could see all the enemy pods materialising, and then hitting a barrier and vanishing; reappearing seconds later, only to slam into the barrier and disappear again. She smiled. It had worked.

'Is that what your time loop does?' the General asked her.

'It is,' the Master said. 'They try to fly forward, and then get caught in an endless cycle of materialisation and hitting the barrier. As long as the device keeps operating, the invaders will never come through.'

The Master had never even dreamed she would hear the sound of aliens clapping their tentacles, but all of a sudden all the Amdrasians in the room burst into applause.

'What can we do to repay you?' the General asked. 'You must choose your reward!'

The Master smiled. 'Thank you, General. I wish for my reward to be the new General; that way I can more actively subdue the civil wars raging on this world and keep any invaders out.'

The room went silent.

Very silent.

The Master frowned.

'Are you a spy from the invaders?' the General asked. 'Did you come here merely to gain control of our world and then hand it over to them?'

The Master's jaw dropped. 'Not at _all!_ How could you even _think_ that? It's _preposterous!_ '

The force field device started beeping, and then something in it sparked and died. The Master gasped and tried to rush over to it, but the soldiers quickly surrounded her and drew their weapons.

'You will leave, now,' one of them warbled. 'If you don't, we will be forced to take you prisoner.'

The Master shook her head. 'No - you can't do this - if I don't fix the time loop barrier your planet will be destroyed!' She looked around at all the Amdrasians and realised they weren't going to let her go. She reached for her inner pocket, both loathing the thought of killing one of these guileless creatures and knowing she had to do it, or they would all die. Her fingertips had just touched the metal of the TCE when a tentacle constricted around her wrist and jerked it back. She tried to throw it off, but then she was being dragged back towards her TARDIS.

' _NO!_ ' she shouted. ' _Stop!_ You'll all _die_ , you cretins! _Obey me! STOP!_ '

The Amdrasians dumped her unceremoniously in front of her ship and formed a tighter circle around her.

'If you reach for your weapon again, we will shoot you,' the General said. 'Now leave.'

The Master stared at them all, then whirled around, unlocked the door, and stormed into the TARDIS.

*****

Ignoring the constant jabbing in her mind, the Master stormed past Averite, who was seemingly meditating with her eyes closed in the Alcove. She stopped at the console's space-time telegraph and began typing rapidly.

_ΙΒ, you need to come at once to the planet_

_of the Amdrasians; it's about to be destroyed, and_

_their art gallery with it. Go rescue the art at least_

_before it is too late._

_\- KX_

She closed her eyes, and pushed the _send_ button.

The Master sighed, and stood quietly for a microspan, then felt a fresh jabbing in her mind and her eyes flew open. She pulled a security mechanism lever on the console, and heard a cry behind her. She turned.

Averite was staring at her, eyes wide, paler than ever.

'You remember when I said I wasn't going to kill you.... _yet?_ ' the Master asked.

Averite jumped up and stumbled backwards. The Master reached over and pulled an emergency demat lever, then slowly walked towards her.

'You know, it's rather odd how the time jumps made you feel so ill. I also haven't been feeling well - _when I walk into my own ship_.' She was a metre closer to Averite now, and the woman backed away a little. She continued walking towards her.

'And _stranger_ still,' the Master whispered, 'is that my _ship_ hasn't been feeling well _either_. You wouldn't know anything about that, _would you?_ '

'P....p....please....I can explain....' Averite started, then trailed off. The Master smiled.

'You aren't a Time Lord at all, Averite. In fact, I never thought you were. You only said you were _Gallifreyan_. You're a Tardis.'

'I....I....I am.... You see....I'm from another universe....' She gasped and broke off, out of breath.

'Are you, now. And _why_ are you here? Why did you bring the Daleks with you? And _why_ , might I ask, have you been _murdering. My. Ship._ ' 

She punctuated each word with a step closer to Averite, and now the Tardis was flat against the wall, wide-eyed and breathing hard.

'It....it isn't murder!' she whimpered. 'I....I'm dying! The Daleks stole almost all of my artron energy and I just thought.... I only siphoned it off a little at a time....and of course she would die eventually but I have to survive and I - '

'She is _SCREAMING IN MY HEAD, YOU ABSOLUTE NONENTITY!_ ' Averite gasped again and tried to pull back against the wall more and dodge back into the console room. The Master threw out an arm, blocking her path.

'No. You aren't going _anywhere_ ,' she said. Her voice dropped to a near-whisper. 'What a pity for you that you have a strong mind. I could have hypnotised you; crushed your will under my own and stopped your sickening plans. But no. You've brought this on yourself.' The Master drew the TCE and Averite's eyes grew even wider. 'Do you have anything to say before you die?'

'Am....am.... _am_ I going to die....'

'Ah.... _yes_.'

'Oh.'

The Master frowned. '"Oh"? Is that _really_ all you have to say?'

'You wouldn't do this....not in cold blood....'

'Oh, I am most certainly not doing this in cold blood, Averite. Most _certainly_ not.'

She switched the TCE on.

'Wait - no - _please_ , Master - _mercy_ \- _please_ \- _mercy_ \- '

' _Mercy?_ ' The Master laughed. 'Were you going to show my TARDIS mercy as it died slowly, and in agony? Might I remind you that I could feel her anguish in my mind as you drained her of every measure of energy?'

'Please - I'm begging you - '

' _No._ The only mercy that you'll get is that your death will be quicker than my TARDIS's would have been, and surprisingly less excruciating as well.' She smiled grimly. 'I say "surprising," by the way, because it's rare that anything is more excruciating than being shrunk to an eighth of your size, which is about how long you'll last to feel it.'

'No no nonononono you don't under - '

The Master pressed the button.

Averite let out a hair-raising scream when the beam hit her; she was dead within seconds. There was a spark and a flash, and her tiny form dematerialised, vanishing from the console room and out into the Vortex.

The Master stood silently for a moment, then switched off the TCE and went over to the console. She stayed there for a while, hand on the panel over the telepathic circuits, projecting calming thoughts into it. At last, she felt the TARDIS quiet, and she removed her hand from the panel.

A quiet beeping caught her attention, and she stepped over to the space-time telegraph. She opened the message and read,

_KX, I successfully removed several of the_

_paintings before the building went up in flames,_

_and managed to evacuate about a dozen Amdrasians_

_before the bomb at the core of the planet detonated._

_\- IB_

The Master breathed a sigh of relief and went to the other side of the console to set coordinates. So at least some of the civilisation had survived. And her TARDIS had survived her ordeal as well. She pulled the demat lever and hoped returning to her interrupted venture would be less perilous than this one had been.

The TARDIS flew through the Vortex back towards London, 1963, and the fruition of all she'd been building towards.


End file.
